Infrastructure coordinated media access control address assignment

Abstract

Described herein are systems, devices, techniques and products for managing the dynamic assignment of media access control (MAC) addresses to wireless network devices, such as by identifying a dynamically assigned MAC address before, after, or during a wireless association process and communicating the dynamically assigned MAC address to a wireless network device. Also disclosed are systems, devices, techniques and products for preventing a denial of service attack on a wireless access point's association table, such as by requiring devices that associate with a wireless access point to respond to a query from the wireless access point shortly after association.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 transmitting, by a device, a frame comprising a media access control (MAC) address corresponding to the device to a network device; 
 receiving, by the device, a response from the network device, wherein the response comprises a designated MAC address; 
 transmitting, by the device, an association request to the network device, wherein the association request comprises the designated MAC address that is included and updated in an entry for the device in an association table stored at the network device; and 
 receiving, by the device, an association response from the network device, wherein the association response comprises an association identifier. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network device further updates the association table with the entry for the device using the designated MAC address. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an indicator of an availability of designated MAC addresses. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 transmitting a request for a designated MAC address to the network device, wherein the network device identifies a designated MAC address in response to receiving the request. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3 , wherein receiving the indicator includes receiving a beacon frame or a probe response frame, and wherein the beacon frame or probe response frame includes the indicator. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 3 , wherein a service set identifier (SSID) of the beacon frame or probe response frame includes the indicator. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying a captive portal website, wherein the captive portal website requests input authorizing use of a designated MAC address; 
 receiving input corresponding to an authorization to use the designated MAC address; and 
 transmitting the authorization. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an association query, wherein the association query includes the designated MAC address; and 
 transmitting a response to the association query. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network device is a wireless access point compliant with an IEEE 802.11 standard. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the response comprises a pool of MAC addresses. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the association request comprises a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) message. 
     
     
       12. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a device, cause the at least one processor to perform operations including:
 transmitting a frame comprising a media access control (MAC) address corresponding to the device to a network device; 
 receiving a response from the network device, wherein the response comprises a designated MAC address; 
 transmitting an association request to the network device, wherein the association request comprises the designated MAC address that is included and updated in an entry for the device in an association table stored at the network device; and 
 receiving an association response from the network device, wherein the association response comprises an association identifier. 
 
     
     
       13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the network device further confirms that the designated MAC address included in the association request is authorized for use by the wireless device. 
     
     
       14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprising:
 receiving an association query, wherein the association query includes the designated MAC address; and 
 transmitting a response to the association query; 
 receiving an authentication query; and 
 transmitting a response to the authentication query. 
 
     
     
       15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the response comprises a pool of MAC addresses. 
     
     
       16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the association request comprises a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) message. 
     
     
       17. A device, comprising:
 a processor; and 
 a memory storing instructions which, when executed cause the device to perform operations including: 
 transmitting, a frame comprising a media access control (MAC) address corresponding to the device to a network device; 
 receiving a response from the network device, wherein the response comprises a designated MAC address; 
 transmitting an association request to the network device, wherein the association request comprises the designated MAC address that is included and updated in an entry for the device in an association table stored at the network device; and 
 receiving an association response from the network device, wherein the association response comprises an association identifier. 
 
     
     
       18. The device of  claim 17 , wherein the network device further confirms that the designated MAC address included in the association request is authorized for use by the wireless device. 
     
     
       19. The device of  claim 17 , wherein the response comprises a pool of MAC addresses. 
     
     
       20. The device of  claim 17 , wherein the association request comprises a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) message.